By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 23, 2023: CENTRAL Council for Research in Ayurveda Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush, in its new endeavour to promote research for mainstreaming the pragmatic Ayurveda practices through scientific validation and evidence-based appraisal, has launched "Ayurveda Gyan Naipunya Initiative" (AGNI) for physicians practicing in the field of Ayurveda. The interested qualified Ayurveda Practitioners may send the Expression of Interest in the format available on CCRAS Website http://ccras.nic.in (http://ccras.nic.in/sites/default/files/Notices/CCRAS-AGNI.pdf ) by 15th December, 2023. The email ID is ccrasagni[at]gmail[dot]com

Prof Rabinarayanan Acharya, Director General of CCRAS listed out the AGNI project's aims as; to provide a platform for Ayurveda practitioners to report their innovative practices & and experiences in various disease conditions along with promoting the culture of evidence-based practice among Ayurveda Practitioners. The initiative also aims to undertake research for mainstreaming pragmatic practices through scientific validation and evidence-based appraisal.

CCRAS will document and publish the reported medical practices and therapeutic regimens for education and academic purposes in consultation with NCISM. Further research studies may be taken up by CCRAS on the reported medical practices for mainstreaming and scientific validation by developing research proposals in collaboration with Ayurveda Practitioners and other relevant institutes/ organizations.

There are over 500,000 registered Ayurveda practitioners who are mainly practicing in India. CCRAS, under Ministry of Ayush is an apex research organization committed to undertaking, coordinating, formulating, development and promotion of research on scientific lines in Ayurveda. In the recent past, to boost scientific research through Ayurveda colleges and hospitals, CCRAS has initiated the Studentship Program for Ayurveda Research Ken (SPARK) for Undergraduate Scholars, Scheme for Training in Ayurveda Research for PG Scholars (PG-STAR) for PG Scholars and Scope for Mainstreaming Ayurveda Research in Teaching Professionals (SMART) program for teachers.

In the recent past, Ayurveda intervention has successfully managed many new disease conditions, both acute and chronic, which are not described in classical texts of Ayurveda. Inevitable streaks of excellence have been happening in many areas, particularly managing the reported adverse effects of synthetic drugs/ procedures, which has put Ayurveda on the Global platform in a short time.